


Pinkest Peony

by ourdreamsrealized



Series: Birthday Prompt AUs - 2016 [12]
Category: Hunger Games Series - All Media Types, Hunger Games Trilogy - Suzanne Collins, The Hunger Games (Movies)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Drama, F/M, Fluff, Love, Reader-Insert, Romance, Secret Admirer
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-05
Updated: 2019-04-05
Packaged: 2020-01-05 01:18:12
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 519
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18355637
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ourdreamsrealized/pseuds/ourdreamsrealized
Summary: Cato is your secret admirer, and he decides to reveal it to you on your birthday when everyone else forgets it.





	Pinkest Peony

**Author's Note:**

> 12/15. Fluff galore! I enjoyed writing this. Cato flustered is something I can get behind. Thanks for the request!  
> Posting stuff from my Tumblr. Enjoy!

He was the victor of the 74th Hunger Games. He was a murderer, and the way he had used his skills—his strength and training—in the games was horrifying.

To be honest, he terrified you, but here he was, holding out a bouquet of flowers with the widest of grins on his lips.

“Happy Birthday, Y/N.”

He was being so sweet, sickeningly so, but you still had trouble processing what he had just admitted to you. 

How could the blood-thirsty monster you had watched on TV not even two weeks ago be the same man who had been sending you love notes and various shades of peonies for…about the same length of time? How could he also be the only one that remembered today was the day of your birth?

Logistically, it made sense, considering you only gained the secret admirer after the Hunger Games, just a bit after Cato returned victorious. In every other way, though, you couldn’t accept the truth. 

“Don’t you like them? Your best friend said you loved Peonies…”

He was confused, and you could see his confidence slipping with the genuine smile that had once lit his face.

F/N was in on this? Then again, you shouldn’t have been surprised. Cato was a built god of a man, and F/N had been trying to set you up with someone ever since she got a boyfriend. If Cato had expressed interest, F/N would have had no trouble helping him try to win you over, but that’s what worried you the most.

How much of those romantic words and beautiful promises were actually his?  
It almost seemed too cliché for the mighty Cato to be a sentimental poet at heart.

“It’s not that I don’t like them,” you murmured, taking the conglomeration of flowers from him with a slight frown on your lips. “I’m just not sure if I can accept them.”

“Why not?”

“Well,” you sighed, averting your gaze from the blond man before you, “I find it a bit hard to believe that you wrote all those letters to me, Cato.”

He deflated like a balloon when he heard your reservation. “I know it seems…a bit unbelievable, considering who I am and what I’ve done, but I promise you, Y/N. The things I wrote to you…”

You nearly had a double-take. Cato was…blushing? Yes! His cheeks looked as if someone had powered them with a tiny bit of rouge. 

“…I meant them whole-heartedly, and F/N only helped me with the flowers. I swear.”

You narrowed your eyes as you peered up at him through your lashes, causing the most flustered of smiles to tug at the corners of Cato’s lips. You were searching his face, looking for any sign of falsehood, and were surprised by how relieved you were when you could not find one.

Giving him no warning, you got up on the tips of your toes and pressed a kiss to his cheek, “Thank you, Cato. I think you just made my Birthday…”

And he turned the color of your pinkest Peony. 


End file.
